The present invention is generally directed to shock and vibration resistant structures and in particular to structures which are capable of withstanding shock and vibration caused by fairly large earthquakes.
Conventional building structures such as apartment houses and office buildings are made with heavy steel framework and with poured concrete. These structures, when subject to the typical stresses generated during earthquakes, tend to be torn apart thus creating heavy falling objects which cause further collapse of the structure or tend to injure or kill the occupants.
Conventional structures are also expensive to produce and do not generally lend themselves to production from prefabricated modular components. Instead, it is necessary to produce each structure as an almost custom made unit, thus making it difficult to realize economies of scale and requiring high labor costs for assembly due to the difficult nature of the assembly process.
Accordingly, there is a need for shock and vibration resistant structures which can withstand the forces of relatively severe earthquakes without producing large and heavy falling objects which tend to injure the occupants and cause additional damage to the structure. Further, there is a need for structures of this kind which can be assembled from inexpensive, prefabricated modular components so as to realize economics of scale and so as to provide rapid and easy assembly, thus reducing labor costs.